Skip to main content

Two Cents

 Another letter came in the mail the other day.

Another notification from the TD Bank regarding my father's estate.

He had passed away more than two years ago, and yet these letters still arrive in the mail.

After having closed everything out, completed all the required tasks of his estate, carrying out all the executrix duties that I was appointed with, this one last account keeps on keeping on.

Every few months I am notified by this letter that there are $.02 cents left remaining in this RRIF account.

An account that I know that I closed down and dispersed.

An account that should have long ago been shuttered and done away with.

But no.

There it is.

A constant reminder that my dad has passed away, and that there are $.02 cents left remaining in this particular RRIF account.

I have tried calling and emailing the bank, to no avail.

This notice persists on being mailed and delivered.

And so I have come to think of it as my dad's two cents.

He is still giving me his two cents.

He is still letting me know that he is and always will be my dad, my father, chiming in on what he thinks should be happening.

I can still hear him burst into laughter when I tell him something about my plans or about something that has happened.

The laughter is usually in response to something that I think is monumental, but he sees otherwise.

Through the wisdom of age and experience, and non-stop listening to CBC Radio, he is able to drill down to what is really important.

And what is not.

I will give him that as a father.

He was a good dad, a good parent.

He always set me on the straight path, nudging me gently towards an interesting career in tv  when I decided to go back to college to study journalism.

He persuaded me to give my two weeks notice when I was so done with my 20+ year tv career that I just wanted to walk out the door one Friday night and never look back.  

I guess that was a good idea, in hindsight.

He offered me, without my asking, interest free loans for cars and courses and veterinarians, knowing my character was such that I would pay him back diligently and then some.

He paid for a trip for us to fly out to B.C. to visit with (and check up on) my younger brother, and then paid for my brother to fly out to visit us several times from B.C.

He treated us both to lunches and dinners at Swiss Chalet more often than I can count.

He always encouraged, never doubted, always gently suggesting towards the right path, not demanding or commanding, as some parents do.

He was generous to a fault, treating this and that and the other, and always buying flowers, gifting coins and collectible stamps, and other things that he considered worthy keepsakes.

I think of him now with mixed feelings, even as I always did when he was alive.

He was always so proud of me and my accomplishments, my career in tv, my writing and anything else I did.

He had molded me to be conscientious and accountable and to finish what I started.

These fatherly things and dad-like contributions are something for which I will always be grateful.

And so now every time I receive a notice from the TD bank in the mail that my dad has $.02 cents left in his account, I have chosen to take it as a notice that my dad is somewhere, somehow, still giving me his two cents.

Keeping me on the up and up, nose to the grindstone, doing the right thing.

Not that I would ever do otherwise; I was parented much better than that, and I inherited all the good DNA.

Anyways, dad, if you are still giving me your two cents, thank you for that.

I still hear your voice, your laughter, your "Oh, Sharry!" (your nickname for me), your English accent, your occasional derisive sniff, and think of you every time I am in the grocery store as I pick up some flowers.

Because I know that's what you would have done.


Popular posts from this blog

Happy Tax

  The Danes are at it again. Making me re-obsessed about what makes them consistently among the Happiest Countries In The World. After reading numerous books on hygge, lykke and what it means to actually live in Denmark, I have come to the conclusion that it is because they are so heavily taxed. They, like all Nordic countries, and even us here in Canada, to some degree, pay a large amount of taxes. It is perhaps a coincidence that all of those countries are extremely cold for a part of the year. As I understand it, they pay so much in taxes that it virtually levels the playing field as far as income goes. For example, if you make not very much money, say under $10,000, you pay no taxes. If you make a bit more, you pay some taxes. And if you make a lot more, you pay a lot more taxes. That is it. It makes everyone more or less equal. There really is no have and have not. It is really everyone has. At social events, in neighbourhoods, community gatherings,...

Pillow Talk

  I would like to talk about the fact that I just shelled out over a hundred dollars for a pillow. An orthopedic pillow. Yes, I am at the age and stage where I invested in a special pillow to help with alignment and posture. The instructions, (yes, it came with instructions), say it could take two to three weeks to get used to it. And they are right. After years of sleeping on a very soft pillow, which has become so flat that it allows my head to virtually be horizontal or even worse, I figured it's time to be kinder to my neck and spine, head and shoulders. And so I went to a special health and medical goods supply store and paid over a hundred clams. They saw me coming. There were many more that were much more expensive. I couldn't believe it. However, it is made of some soft memory foam or something that offers firm yet supple support. There is a roll or ridge that fits under the back of my neck, firmly supporting it indeed. Almost too much so. It...

The Custodian

  One of my favourite morning routines is watering the potted plants and filling up the bird bath. As I do so, I stare in wonder and awe at all the trees, shrubs, plants and flowers that have taken up residence at our house. Most we have planted, replacing dead ones, and creating new spaces. Others have mysteriously, miraculously appeared on their own; no doubt the result of a bird or squirrel or chipmunk unknowingly depositing the seeds of flowers and trees. There is a new Rose of Sharon along the side of the house now, a new cedar at the edge of the back deck, and a couple of lilac bushes too that are pure happenstance. Numerous Blanket Flowers have found their way into our perennial gardens too, along with Black Eyed Susans and White Daisies; none planted or planned by us, purely Mother Nature doing her thing. And if these plants bring along a flower or two, they can stay. And as I marvel at these new entities appearing each year, I humbly realize I am only their...